Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly lower on Monday, giving up the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,300 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, weighed down by weakness in iron miners and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 14.80 points or 0.20 percent to 7,310.50, after hitting a low of 7,307.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 12.70 points or 0.17 percent to 7,523.20. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is edging down 0.4 percent, while Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto are losing almost 1 percent each. Mineral Resources is edging up 0.1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos, Origin Energy and Beach energy are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Woodside Energy is adding almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Xero is losing almost 1 percent, while Appen is edging up 0.2 percent and WiseTech Global is gaining more than 1 percent and. Zip is flat. Afterpay owner Block is plummeting almost 11 percent after reporting their results on Friday.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Gold Road Resources, Newcrest Mining, Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each. Resolute Mining is losing more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are losing almost 1 percent each.

In other news, shares in Lithium Australia are sky rocketing more than 39 percent after it inked a joint development agreement with Mineral Resources related to disruptive lithium extraction technology LieNA. In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.658 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw substantial volatility during trading on Friday, as traders digested the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report. The major averages spent the day showing wild swings back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually finished the day in negative territory. The Dow fell 150.27 points or 0.4 percent to 35,065.62, the Nasdaq declined 50.48 points or 0.4 percent to 13,909.24 and the S&P 500 slid 23.86 points or 0.5 percent to 4,478.03.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index rose by 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday, extending recent gains amid tightening supply issues after Saudi Arabia and Russia pledged to cut output through next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $1.27 at $82.82 a barrel.